Violence, Politics and Textual Interventions in Northern Ireland

“‘The Troubles’ is the name usually given to the period of political and violent unrest that gripped Northern Ireland from 1968 to 1998.

Drawing on the literary-anthropological work of René Girard and the psychoanalytical work of Jacques Lacan, Mahon analyzes key Troubles texts, seeking move away from the all-too-common belief that the Troubles were the result of the repeated clashes of atavistic and instinctual tribal nationalisms. Through these texts, Mahon re-examines and re-appraises the complex deployment of recurrent motifs—such as language, violence, ritual, psycho-sexual dynamics, history, the law. Mahon then explores how the interaction between these texts and theorists makes it possible to theorize a new, flexible framework for reading and engaging with the dynamic interplay of violence, sexuality, politics and textuality that opens up alternate political and sexual possibilities.”

Reviews and endorsements:

“Peter Mahon’s book is both timely and original, with a good sense of the vital significance of literature in Irish history. It is a trenchant scholarly intervention but will also interest a wide range of readers in both Ireland and Britain. I expect the book to become a model of the analysis of the cultural effects of political violence.” —Luke Thurston, Department of English & Creative Writing, Aberystwyth University, UK